Born in 1919, Wu Guanzhong grew up in hometown Yixing, Jiangsu. Being a native of Southern China, he loves the landscape in his hometown. In 1978, the Lu Xun Museum invited Wu Guanzhong to paint a series picture of Lu Xun's old home. As he respected Lu Xun and cared for his hometown, and Yixing was so similar to Shaoxing; therefore, he traveled down south, going to Shaoxing, Zhejiang province to do his sketches. Likewise, he completed the huge scale oil painting of Lu Xun's Old Home, which was collected permanently by the Lu Xun Museum. According to Wu Guanzhong, it was not the first time he ever sketched in Shaoxing. Before this project he went to Shaoxing twice for the sake of painting. The first time was in 1956; he lived in the en suite of Lu Xun's old home. The second occasion was in 1977; he backpacked with his painting gear and traveled all over the small town, bridges, streams, and homes in Shaoxing. All the landscapes in Southern China were attractive to him.

Lu Xun (1881-1936), a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, is a famous modern Chinese writer. His literature, thoughts, and woodcuts enjoy high acclaim in the literary and cultural circles of China. In 1919, when he returned to his long left home, he wrote the novel My Old Home. In Lu Xun's My Old Home, he depicts that after leaving his hometown for 20 years, to a place some two thousand miles away, he begins to feel strange about the black tiles and white walls, bamboo and plants, which remain unchanged. Perhaps it is a twist in his mind and heart, and he feels melancholic. Later, people built a museum in his hometown to commemorate this great writer. Moreover, there is also a fad to study Lu Xun in Shaoxing.

In Yangtze Cruise and Lu Xun's Home Town - Memoirs of Creation, Wu Guanzhong delineates the process of portraying the landscapes in Lu Xun's hometown. After considering the choices of the sites and scenes, and sketching several times, he finally decides the manner of depicting the landscapes in Jiangnan. He says, "Jiangnan is a place of bridges and streams; therefore, its landscapes are lyrical in mood. In the front and behind the villages, the south and north of the bridges, the willow and plum blossom flowers, all invite us to stay. Although there are many neat and beautiful scenes, they can hardly constitute a grand scale or organic scene. Further, I do not like the scene of woods and paths that invite people to take walk. It is a paradox between a prose poem and a one-act play. Different from the beauty of prose, it is inconsiderable to lack overt images - to play the main role in the pictorial space. Concerning the rise and fall, and unrestrained feelings of the images, a single picture is close to a one-act play, in which the climax keeps coming. The small bridges are not high in altitude, homes neighbor homes; these scenes extend in a monotonous horizon with low contour. How can such displacements become the structure of a painting! I climb up a few small hills, acquiring a broader and farther view, perceiving a grand atmosphere. However, a bird's-eye view can hardly be dependable for the design of the picture. Cutting the plane in equal proportion will make the scene loose; therefore, I choose the site packed with houses as the block design, constituting the main part of the picture. Then, as the green water flows around their homes, rivers net in-between, getting around; therefore, I get the block and sinews for the plane. It seems that it has a prototype!"

Looking down from the hill to Shaoxing city, the black, white, and grey blocks constitute a touching scene with their patchiness. Observing closely, the houses nearby show their roofs only; all of them are black pieces; we can only see their white walls at a distance. However, I have to invite the white patches to situate in the middle of the picture. Likewise, I model it contrarily. The houses at the front show mostly their facades; meanwhile, there are black rooftops at a great distance. My major purpose is to create a black and white visual effect. Further, the white walls are no longer the dim impression when looking down. Basically, they are the shapes that can be viewed at close distance. Employing its shapes and appearances, I forget my standpoint already! Likewise, this bird's-eye view blueprint is a product of my sketching around in the city, including the bushes in Shaoxing High School, old bridges at the west pathway, the river, willows on the banks, boats in the river, etc. They are led from the east lake....

The auction piece Lu Xun's Old Home can be regarded as a tailor fit huge scale sketch Wu Guanzhong painted for Lu Xun Museum. It becomes "an outstanding image - responsible for occupying the pictorial space," with the bushes of Shaoxing High School as the front view, and the white walls and black tiles, the bridges and stream, as a backdrop. As the painter mounted the hill and looked down into Shaoxing City, he completed a one-act play with the scene seen through his eyes and the design hatched in his mind.

References:

Wu Guanzhong. Zhangjiang Sanxia and Lu Xun's Home Town - Memoirs of Creation, I Want Art Not Life. Chen Ruixien, ed. Taipei: Yuan Chin Publishing Co, 1997
Modern and Contemporary Chinese Painter: Wu Guanzhong. People's Fine Art Publishing House and Chin Show Cultural Enterprise, 1996